Vodafone calls on councils to grant access to 1,000 sites in London to boost coverage

Vodafone spokesperson:
“We welcome Ofcom’s announcement to commence the auctions this year. However, we also need to see Ofcom and the UK government support a pro-investment approach to infrastructure investment more broadly to ensure networks can be built out quickly and efficiently.”

Vodafone UK has challenged local councils to give the operator access to thousands of sites in London to help boost signal in the capital.

The operator said it wants to install new ultra-fast fibre optic cables and additional 4G masts in the city but challenged councils to back the move by making site access easier.

Research form the operator found there are 2.5 mobile masts per square kilometre in London, significantly less than other capital cities such as Madrid, which has 6.3 per square kilometre.

Vodafone said data usage in the capital had grown by 76 per cent in the last year to an average 90 terabytes per day. The operator said it will have invested £200 million in London infrastructure over two years by the end of 2015.

Vodafone UK chief technology officer Jorge Fernandes said: “Londoners are the UK’s biggest consumers of mobile data with around 90 terabytes used every day which is equal to streaming nearly 23 million average length songs.

“Today, we call on local councils to open their roof-tops to allow us to make London’s digital network infrastructure world-class. We are committed to the largest ever investment in London in our 30-year history and we need their help.

“We want to further extend our coverage indoors and out as well as ensure ample capacity to support London for the next twenty years.”